Industrial expansion to increase NS rail volume

Monday, January 07, 2013

Norfolk Southern Corp. said Friday it could benefit from more than 141,000 carloads of new rail traffic each year from 64 new industries it helped locate on its network and 30 industries it helped expand in 2012.
The railroad worked with state and local economic development officials in 19 states to help customers identify ideal locations for new and expanded facilities. Among the free services it provides customers are industrial park planning, site layout, track design and logistics assistance.
Half of the facilities added along the Norfolk Southern rail network belonged to the energy sector, including gas projects associated with the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in Pennsylvania and New York. The railroad also carried the first shipments of crude oil from the Bakken shale in the Plains to East Coast refineries in 2012.

"We expect this subsector to grow significantly in 2013," Newell Baker, assistant vice president industrial development, said in a statement.
(Read more about crude oil shipments and logistics support for energy developers becoming a fast growth area for railroads in this month's magazine feature story, "Steel-wheeled Pipeline.") - Eric Kulisch